There is a considerable body of internet apocrypha that suggests massive solar "ejections" are responsible for the periodic (and cataclysmic) flipping of the earth's magnetic polarity. It also seems to have something to do with the year 2012 and the Mayan calendar, but neither the science or the archaeology on this checks out. But if you look at the image below which shows a simulation of a geomagnetic reversal (which do happen, just not necessarily because of solar activity) you can understand why the idea has cultural resonance.

We have all been living with KONY 2012 phenomenon since Tuesday when the video was released on YouTube (it had been posted to Vimeo for two weeks prior as a pump primer). The impact of these kinds of viral events do feel significant—as if our orderly "poles" of meaning have morphed into a new and surprising configuration. But KONY, like today's solar flare flyby, is likely just "a glancing blow," in the words of Antti Pulkkinen of NASA's Space Weather Laboratory

The campaign has evoked strong and mixed feelings. I won't rehash all of the details, but there have been many excellent, balanced attempts to identity what rankles about the effort.

Journalist Michael Wilkerson, who has lived and reported from Uganda, wrote in a guest post on Foreign Policy, "It would be great to get rid of Kony. He and his forces have left a path of abductions and mass murder in their wake for over 20 years. But let's get two things straight: 1) Joseph Kony is not in Uganda and hasn't been for 6 years; 2) the LRA now numbers at most in the hundreds, and while it is still causing immense suffering, it is unclear how millions of well-meaning but misinformed people are going to help deal with the more complicated reality."

Even more pointed, Amber Ha posted a letter to Jason Russell on her Tumbler which included this first-person account, "Last year I went to Gulu, Uganda, where Invisible Children is based, and interviewed over 50 locals. Every single person questioned Invisible Children’s legitimacy and intention. Every single person. If anything, it seemed the people saw Invisible Children as a bigger threat than Joseph Kony at the time. Why is it the very people you are trying to 'help' feel more offense than relief with your aid?"

The upshot of all the criticism for me is that the radical simplification of the situation in Uganda that makes KONY 2012 such an effective piece of social media is the same thing that undermines it as a piece of political activism. The area of Northern Uganda in question has been experiencing a time of relative peace and stability since Kony's exit six years ago and many there fear that IC (and U.S.) efforts may increase conflict in the area.